The Irish Tin Whistle – A Bit of History
This is the first post. Now let’s move to the meat. And that meat today will be in the form a bit more history. We all like history, right! Right…? Is that right?
The Irish Tin whistles is a simple, woodwind instrument which uses a fipple for sound production. The jargon is removed so you can use it as a recorder instead of a flute. There are also no buttons and levers on the body. This is a very practical way to play. If you have less fingers covering holes, you will be able to make higher notes. You also need to lift your fingers off the bottom. That’s all. (Thankfully. I remember feeling like my grandparents when I first tried to pick up my old flute. “What does that button do?” “It’s making an awful noise. What’s wrong?”
These types of instruments are used more than any other instrument in recorded history. They are used in almost every civilization. They even found Neanderthal versions. Even if you don’t like the Irish culture aspect of the tin-tin whistle, there are likely other cultures that do. You can still play the whistle for those reasons. There may be an Irish equivalent. The Irish tin-whistle will cost less if someone is selling it.
The modern whistle that we use today came from the roots of Robert Clarke in Manchester, England. He began mass-producing his whistle back in the 1840s. This was the original model from which the modern styles of whistle were derived. In fact, this is where the whistle took its names: the tin whistle because they were often made of brass or zinc, and the penny whip because it was so inexpensive to make them in the 19th century.
